David Martin, author. − Mr President, this debate is inspired by the fact that the new Justice Minister in Japan has indicated that he intends to end the moratorium on the use of the death penalty and to resume executions in Japan.

I agree with the previous speaker that the European Union and Japan have close and strong relations, we are partners in many areas of development and in the world, and we speak to the Japanese in this case as friends. We say to them that as a European Union we can never support the use of the death penalty. In modern Japan the death penalty has no place. We very much welcome the fact that there have been no executions in Japan since July 2010. I consider it real progress if Japan moves towards abolition. That is why the Minister’s statement was so disappointing.

I would hope that the Japanese Government will continue the work they have begun, with a study group in the Ministry of Justice which is examining the death penalty, and I hope they will listen to the strong abolitionist movement which exists in that country. There is no place in any modern state to take the lives of its own citizens. I urge Japan to consider abolishing the death penalty as soon as possible.

Keith Taylor, author. − Mr President, the end of the death penalty has been achieved in 96 countries across the world and only 23 countries actually carried out executions in 2010. To see any reduction in the numbers of legal killings is encouraging but hearing about the possibility that executions in Japan will restart under a new Minister of Justice is a matter of great disappointment both for me and for my political group, the Greens, who are completely opposed to the death penalty.

According to reports from Amnesty and the UN Committee on Torture, most of those people sentenced to death in Japan have given confessions under extreme duress. That duress could include physical abuse or sleep deprivation or denial of food and water and the use of a toilet and not being told of the date of their execution until the day itself arrives.

But the death penalty is not fail-safe. You cannot acquit someone if they have already been killed. So I think the death penalty is abhorrent and cruel; it degrades both Japanese society and morality and it further punishes the prisoners’ families, who are innocent of any crime.

So please join us in voting for a moratorium and the reactivation of the Japanese study group to stop death penalties.

Paul Murphy, author. − Mr President, let me start with a quote from the French writer and activist Victor Hugo, who summed up the hypocrisy and barbarity of the death sentence when he said, ‘You hold up capital punishment as an example. Why? Because of what it teaches. And just what is it that you wish to teach by means of this example? That thou shalt not kill. And how do you teach that thou shalt not kill? By killing’.

It is a disgrace that the death penalty still exists in Japan, and it is a disgrace that the new Minister of Justice has announced that he does not want to continue the policy of caution of his predecessor and will, potentially, sign new execution orders. The barbarity of the situation in Japan is increased by the fact that, in many cases, prisoners and their legal representatives are not informed of the execution until the day that it takes place, and their family members are not informed until the execution has already taken place, meaning that they cannot say a last goodbye to their loved ones.

From 2000 to 2009, Japan sentenced 112 people to death and executed 46, and there are currently 130 people on death row in Japan. Those convicted are kept in solitary confinement and wait an average of more than seven years – sometimes decades – in toilet-sized cells. Executions are carried out at advanced ages and despite signs of mental illness.

Japan also has a 99% conviction rate, a figure which, critics say, is attributed to the use of forced confessions. In 2010 a number of other convictions – not death sentences – were overturned as a result of these coming out. Obviously that cannot happen in the case of the death penalty. I think it is essential that we call for the immediate abolition of the death penalty.

Kristiina Ojuland, author. − Mr President, one knows a true friend by unconditional honesty; I hope to be a friend of the Land of the Rising Sun. However, I would call on Tokyo not to end the de facto moratorium on the death penalty. The death penalty assumes that the convict is not able to reform himself and furthermore, once carried out, it cannot be appealed against if misapplied. Even a remote chance of a mistake does not allow it to be applied in a contemporary democratic country that respects human rights. We must be consistent in our policies in the European Union and apply the same standards to all countries, from Belarus to Japan and from China to the USA.